A Chop-Block by the University

Is Syracuse really helping its students when it acts independently from the courts?

Frank Ordoñez /The Post-Standard

Posted: Ted Conroy

So Delone Carter makes a deal with the Orange Devil and is coming back to the University in the fall.

As for the District Attorney and the misdemeanor assault charges? We don’t know. There hasn’t been a hearing yet, and Carter hasn’t been convicted of a crime at this point.

Yet he was suspended from the University indefinitely as soon as he was arrested. He was banned from campus and had to stay with a friend. Does the University take into account the legal system when it makes these decisions?

This is where SU’s judicial system is throwing The Fizz for a loop. The school suspended a student and cut a deal to let him back on campus, all before the legal process had played itself out. The judicial board has both initiated and concluded it’s handling of the matter before the courts have done their work.

As strange as it is, this isn’t atypical in the world of the ‘Cuse. Remember Eric Devendorf’s the season-long suspension, appeal and reduction?

The courts are there to enforce laws, and they oftentimes end up sorting out lies from both parties. We’re not saying here that Carter didn’t do it; by all accounts, and by the Ryan Gillum statement, he did. However, we all know that behind every war there is an opening blow. That is what the legal system sometimes finds.

The way the University has handled the matter, William Hotaling could have stood there and provoked Carter and Gillum in a million tasteless ways, but a punch being thrown is the only thing that matters. Did this happen? We don’t know, because the process hasn’t played out. There was action before conclusion of a legal proceeding.

The University is throwing its students under the bus and leaving them to pick up the pieces with the way it treats student discipline right now.

Think about the NBA, NFL, and MLB. When off-the field transgressions take place, the disciplinarians wait until court filings are over with before they announce final suspensions. Why? Because the players have powerful unions that will reject the punishments if they aren’t thoroughly investigated. Students don’t have unions; they have families. Families that don’t always have access to money, or, a strong support system behind them at the school.

Imagine if this was your daughter or son, who may have been provoked into an attack like this? Is one punch worth 10,000 Google results, a mark on the permanent record, and a stain on a degree with the legal system playing no part?

This is great for the football team. While it’s still entirely possible that Doug Marrone could punish him with a game suspension(s), it nonetheless brings back a 1,000 yard rusher.

But you can’t help but think this University needs to consider the way it treats it’s student body. Self-defense innocent or plain-as-day guilt, this is a shady way to handle things.